Background
Individuals with neurogenic voice disorders, such as laryngeal dystonia, often experience symptom worsening during stressful communication contexts like phone calls. Standard clinical assessments, however, are typically performed in quiet, low-stress settings that may not reflect real-world challenges. This feasibility study tested whether an ecologically valid, multi-modal paradigm could elicit and measure stress-related changes in speech, physiology, and self-reported workload among vocally healthy adults.
Method
Ten female participants (ages 18–26) completed four speech tasks—sentence reading, paragraph reading, storytelling, and a simulated phone call—that varied in ecological validity and communicative demand. Galvanic skin response (GSR), heart rate (HR), and respiration rate were recorded continuously. Speech was analyzed for intensity, mean fundamental frequency (F₀), and speech rate, and participants rated perceived workload using the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX). Linear mixed-effects models were used for acoustic data and repeated-measures ANOVAs for physiological and self-report measures.
Results
Self-report: Task significantly affected Stress, Mental Demand, Temporal Demand, Effort, and Performance (Fs ≥ 3.27, ps ≤ .032, η² = .21–.48). Story and Phone Call tasks elicited higher Stress and Mental Demand than Sentence and Paragraph tasks (ps ≤ .012).
Physiology: GSR varied by task (F(3,27) = 7.09, p = .001, GG p = .021), with Phone Call > all others (ps ≤ .0004). HR also differed (F(3,24) = 6.87, p = .002), with Phone Call > Sentence and Paragraph (ps ≤ .002). Respiration rate was highest in Sentence reading (F(3,24) = 9.74, p < .001).
Acoustics: Phone Call speech was more intense than Sentence speech (β = 2.83 dB, p = .007) and had higher F₀ than Story speech (β = –11.49 Hz, p = .034). Speech rate was faster in Paragraph and Phone Call than Sentence speech (βs = 0.34–0.45 syll/s, ps < .03).
Conclusion
This pilot study demonstrates the feasibility of using an ecologically valid, multi-modal paradigm to elicit stress and capture associated vocal and physiological changes. The convergence of increased arousal, workload, and acoustic adjustments during storytelling and phone calls highlights the paradigm’s potential for studying stress-related voice modulation in clinical populations.